


Daughter of the Red Hood

by WrittenByCee



Category: Batman (Comics), Nightwing (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Blood, Character Death, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Language, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Romance, Smut, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-27
Updated: 2018-05-23
Packaged: 2019-02-22 12:55:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13167360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WrittenByCee/pseuds/WrittenByCee
Summary: 2037. Gotham is ablaze after the death of the Batman. Kate Kane and her father have set up an anti-vigilante policy to eradicate the remnants of Bruce Wayne's Legacy. A small resistance led by Nightwing tends to restore peace in Gotham. As they organise their last plan, the ex-boy wonder contacts the Red Hood for help ...





	1. Welcome Home

He had failed. He had failed everything. He had failed Gotham. He had failed his friends. He had failed his family. The Red Hood was a failure. Jason Todd was a failure.

            He looked at his red dusty mask between his hands, staring at his own reflection. He was not the handsome young vigilante he used to be. He had salt and pepper hair now and even some crow’s feet in the corner of his blue eyes. Hell, even his brown leather jacket looked old and damaged. But most all he had lost all of his mischief and his signature sarcasm.

It made him laugh mirthlessly. How pathetic he was. Time had definitely fucked him up. Or was it rather the alcohol? or his miserable life? or perhaps a bit of everything?

            He put down the mask on the table nearby when he heard the sound of footsteps behind him.

“ Todd. Believe it or not I’m glad you are here” Damian Wayne. He had changed too, but in a good way. Lucky him. He was not the little obnoxious brat anymore. He was a tall man with broad shoulders and an undeniable self-confidence, the spitting image of his father. No wonder people believed Batman was immortal. In that costume, Damian could fool anyone. Bruce would have been proud.    
“ I still don’t get why I’m here though.”    
“ You know Grayson. He’s never been good at making plans but he wouldn’t have called you with no reason.”

“ And I do have a reason.” A weirdly croaky voice said in the back.

            Jason’s eyes widened when he saw the man he used to envy back in the days he was young and reckless. Dick Grayson. What had happened to you? Condemned to spend your last days in a wheel chair with an amputated leg and the memories of good old times when he was still able to jump from rooftops. Time had screwed Jason up but the battle had made Dick lose his wings. Nightwing was no more. But he was still fighting and this is why Jason thought he was still better than him.

            And he still had people by his side contrary to him.

            Jason glanced at you; a beautiful young lady, probably in her early twenties, with long [Y/HC] hair tied in a silk ponytail. You were wearing a black and red costume with a bird symbol on the chest. The similarity with Nightwing costume was striking and that is why Jason immediately assumed you were Flamebird, the girl Dick had taken under his wing few years ago. He had heard a lot of rumours about you. Apparently you were not the kind of girl that tends to do things by half.

You went to stand by Damian while Dick approached a table placed in the middle of the room. The new Batman glanced at you with a smile. A smily Damian? That was new

             A hologram of Gotham appeared on the table.

“ Luke sent me information concerning the Kanes’ new project. Apparently they released their robotic soldiers in Gotham’s underground to flush us out.”           
“ How could they find us? Drake conceived this hideout so that no one could enter without prior authorisation.”        
“ I guess they somehow found a breach when they tortured Tim to death. They aim to blow us all with a bomb”        
“ So what’s the plan. We leave?”    
“ We could but the explosion will make the underground foundations collapse and Arkham Asylum along with them.” “The bomb is remote controlled from Wayne Tower according to Luke. I need a team to infiltrate the tower and hacked the system to prevent the explosion.”  
“ That doesn’t explain why I’m here.” Jason said a bit annoyed. You glared at him, definitely not happy to have him here. “ That should reassure you. Perhaps you won’t be needed after all.”      
“[Y/N]” Dick sighed. “What? I don’t see why we would need this coward.”  
“ A coward?” Jason was offended. “Listen to me, little girl. I was doing this job way before you were born and I lost so many things, so many people I loved to do it. You can tell me I failed them all but don’t you ever call me a coward again.” You remained still and stern, definitely not affected at all by his words and ready to give him right.  
“ Tim died. So did Bruce and Barbara. God knows what happened to Stephanie. But you, you left the fight, you abandoned us. If that’s not being a coward, what is it? You don’t deserve to be among us.”

“ All right that’s enough” Dick yelled. He immediately coughed and started hyperventilated. You ran towards him to give him his Ventolin. “I’m sorry.” Dick patted your shoulder and kissed your forehead tenderly. “It’s okay [Y/N]. Damian can you keep going?”  
“ Sure. I’ll lead the infiltration with Cassandra. I know the place by heart. We should be able to defuse the bomb and handle both Colonel Kane and Kate. [Y/N] and Todd you’ll stay here to repel the enemy and prevent them from setting the bomb.”

You groaned discreetly not liking this plan. “Why can’t I come with you?” Jason raised an eyebrow. Okay you didn’t like him but that didn’t mean you had to be so despicable.  
“ I’d rather want you here.” Damian said grabbing you by the hands and staring at you right in the eye. Talking about proximity. “Fine.”             
“ I didn’t say I agreed to do it.” Jason said. You had this defying look that everyone noticed though you decided to remain silent by respect for Dick. He was like the father you never had. He had taken you in when you were still an infant, raised you and taught you everything.

“ Jason, you’re the only one I trust that can do this. If there had been someone else then I would not have bothered you.”   
“ Pretty sure I can handle the soldiers on my own.”  
“ Oh really little bird. How?”  
“ I can fight. I don’t need some old outlaw to back me up.”  
“ You mean you’re the one who’s gonna back me up, kiddo”  
“ We’ll see that, old man” You said before leaving the room with a defying and satisfied smile.

When you left, Jason frowned a bit dubious. “Did I just accidentally accepted just to shut that little girl’s mouth?”  
“ I believe you did, Todd.” Damian said. “ But don’t worry [Y/N] often tend to make everyone do that.” And he left with a smile that let Jason a bit sceptical.  
“ I’m glad you’re in and I’m sure [Y/N] is too.”  
“ I doubt it. That kid despises me.”  
“ Just give her a chance. She might surprise you.” Jason stayed silent for a short while. Bruce had told him the same thing: Give people a chance. They might surprise you. That’s how he ended up being a member of a family again.  
“ She got spunk. You’ve got to admit it.”  
“ Yes it’s even surprising for someone who’s your sidekick.”  
“ She inherited it from her father. The power of the genes.”  
“ Doesn’t always do people good.”  
Dick chuckled. “What?” Jason asked.  
“ Doesn’t she remind you of someone?” 

Yes, you reminded him of someone. You reminded him of him, when he was playing sidekick on rooftop with the big bad bat: same youth, same boldness, same problematic temper. His beloved wife had told him when she was pregnant that their daughter would be just like that too, that she could feel it in the way she was kicking in the womb. “We’ll have to manage.” He had joked. Though he never got the chance to manage, as they were both taken away from him in a tragic explosion.

After that, he just threw the towel and packed up his red hood in a box.  
And today, he had it back in his hands and had just agree to wear it again because of an insolent little brat.

 


	2. Never Fail ... Never Again

Lying on you back, your legs spread wide, you could feel Damian’s warm and sweaty skin against yours. He was slowly yet deeply pounding you; his face nestled in your neck as you were holding to his broad back tightly. Usually you would have definitely taken delight in hearing him muffling some low groans in your ear, making his best so that no one could hear. Yes, your relationship revolved around the attraction for the secret and for the taboo.       
He was way older than you and almost family in a way. You had met him as a child and had nurtured a crush on him ever since. You couldn’t help it. He was your perfect embodiment of masculinity.           
But tonight you weren’t in the mood. Quiet in his arms you were thinking, haunted by incessant reflection.

“ Are you okay?” He whispered a bit out of breath. You turned your face away from him. He straightened up, pulling out of you, to stare at you with concern in his big green-blue eyes. You rolled on your side in silence. “What is it?”   
“ I can’t stop thinking about the mission.” Damian sighed and dried the sweat from his forehead with his hand. “Seriously?”

“I still don’t understand why we need this Red Hood guy.” You grumbled. “There’s something that bother me about him. I don’t know what it is.”              
Damian frowned. There was something weird in his eyes. Was he upset? Disappointed? You couldn’t tell. He could be such a mystery sometimes. Genetic, you assumed.

His phone suddenly rang and so did yours. He grabbed his first. “It’s Grayson. Summit meeting, now.” He got up from the bed and started putting his clothes back on. You covered your body with the sheets and got up to hold him from behind. “Don’t be mad at me, please.” You whispered as you kissed his shoulder blade.        
“ I’m not. But you should talk to Todd.”

No need to say you couldn’t.

Dick had summoned you all to tell you to get in place. The Kanes had launched their master plan earlier.

Jason and you were in the tunnels of the old Gotham underground. You were humping up and down with impatience as he was charging his guns quietly.   

“ Calm down, kiddo. You’re stressing me out.”      
“ Sorry, I’m just impatient to end this shit… Oh wait, no I’m not sorry.” You corrected with a sneer.        
“ How does Grayson stand you?”     
“ Could ask the same thing of you.” Jason remained silent for few seconds before finally saying with a smile. “He doesn’t … always” It made you smile slightly but genuinely. “Brothers, am I right?”        
“ Do you still consider him your brother?” Your words didn’t sound judgmental or angry. You were curious. That was it. “ He’s always been my brother though it took me quite some time to accept it. The truth is, no matter what, you cannot deny your family”    
“ I guess you’re right.” He glanced at you, pleasantly surprised. “Don’t” You threatened. “Don’t believe I’ve softened.”           
“ I don’t”          
“ Good.”            
“ Though it looks like you have” He grinned at you and you glared at him in response. “Shut up.” Jason laughed. He hadn’t laughed in a while. He hadn’t laughed since … he couldn’t remember. But doing it again, it felt good.   
“ So, how did you become Nightwing’s sidekick?”            
“ I’m not a sidekick anymore.” You retorted a bit offended. “But it’s a long story to be honest. My mum died giving birth to me. My dad was god knows where. Dick found me and took me in. Though I can’t remember it. I was still an infant. He raised me and trained me.”         
“ So you’re part of the orphan squad.”      
“ Isn’t that the superhero common denominator?”         
“ Totally. Dead parents. Huge trauma etcetera etcetera and next thing you know you’re jumping from rooftop to rooftop in tights.”            
“ In shorts.”     
“ Oh no don’t tell me Dick did that to you.”           
“ He totally did.” You laughed together this time and when you both realised it you stopped abruptly and stared at each other. You didn’t want to like him, for unknown reasons, but you couldn’t help but appreciate this cheerful conversation.   
_Give people a chance, they might surprise you._ The sentence rang in your heads and you both stayed quiet, wondering if you should indeed do it.           

But your phone cut your reflection short. It was Dick, demanding a video call. You accepted though your thought it was strange.     
“Stephanie?” Your eyes widened. You thought she was dead. Jason approached you when he heard her name.           
“ Flamebird, you have to come back to the base. We are under attack here. They are trying to enter.”     
“ What? How? And what are you doing here?”     
“ I was captured. I escaped. They followed me. You have to come back.”        
“ Where is Dick?” But she didn’t have time to answer as the sound started to crackle and the video went through intermittences.               
You started panicking. If something was to happen to Dick … “We have to go back!” You yelled.   
“ No.” Jason said coldly.         
“ What?”          
“ It’s a trap.”   
“ No it is not! Dick’s in danger!”       
“ [Y/N], you have to trust me. Something’s wrong.”         
“ Yeah **you** are” You pointed at him angrily “Do whatever you like. Dick is like a father to me. I’m not going to leave him to die.”      
“[Y/N]!” Jason yelled as he saw you run back towards the base.

As he saw you leaving, he realised how much the situation was way too familiar. Flashes of him as a boy in a colourful Robin costume flying to Qurac to save his mother stroke him. Then a laugh, a maniacal awful laugh. Hihihi hahaha. Blood. A crowbar. The tick-tack of a bomb. And a light, a dazzling light right and the end, right before nothing.  
Jason groaned, angry and hesitant. He couldn’t leave the place as it would jeopardize the entire mission but he couldn’t let you run to a certain death. He couldn’t let you go through what he went through as a boy.

He had never been the smartest Robin. And he tended to live up to that reputation.

He was going to save you and save everyone else too.

How ? He didn’t know.          
But he would not fail. Not this time. Not ever. Not again          


	3. The Bird and The Bomb

  
You knew Gotham’s old underground by heart. You had spent so many years in them, with Dick, as his sidekick, training to become the best. You had always wanted to make him proud – probably was it a way of saying thank you for everything he had done for you.            
Though you never called him dad, you loved him as a daughter would love her father: fiercely, faithfully and blindly.           
You always been like that: the reckless little girl with a bad temper but always ready to do anything for the one she loved. Was it genetic? You didn’t know.  
You knew little about your parents. It was a subject Dick had trouble to talk about. At first you thought it was to protect you but then you understood it was more to protect himself … from the pain, from the sorrow, from the grief. Because he had loved your mother. Because the simple evocation of her name was enough to always bring tears back in Dick’s eyes. So out of love and respect for him you decided never to mention it.           
And that was the same love that was making you run towards the base, through secret tunnels only a few people knew about.

Dick was in danger. And it was your duty to help him.   
You entered the room by a damaged air vent, ready to strike. But there was nothing. Everything was calm. But you could feel that something was wrong.             
Stephanie was here, sitting on a chair, strangely quiet and tranquil.

“Stephanie. Where is Dick? What is going on? I thought you were …” You stopped talking when you noticed Dick’s wheelchair on the ground. “Stephanie?”              
“ I’m sorry [Y/N]” And suddenly a lot of AI robots were there to surround you, their weapons pointed at you.     
“ Why?” You asked confused.        
“ The Kanes are right. The vigilante era must end.”       
“ But we are family Steph. Tim …”             
“ Don’t talked about Tim!!!” She yelled with sudden tears streaming down her cheeks. “ If he’s dead it’s because of you, of people like you, like Dick, Damian, everyone. Because you refused to cooperate.”    
“ They are extremists Steph, you can’t …”            
“ No you are. Extremist idealists who believe they can save everyone, who believe they are justice.”      
“ Where is Dick? What have you done to him?”   
“ Oh don’t worry. You’ll soon join him.”  

You heard the guns cocked. The robots had locked you as their targets. You took a deep breath as you tried to look for an escape. But there was none.

“And you’ll join Damian too.” You shivered, scared, terrified even. “For fuck’s sake Stephanie. What the hell have you done?”          
“ I tricked you. We all tricked you. The Kanes, Me, Luke. He was never your mole. He was working with us. All the things you learned you learned them because we wanted to. Damian and Cass will never be able to diffuse the bomb and you will die here. And your despicable team will lose hope, slowly and painfully. And then we will take care of the rest. Divide and conquer I believe it is called”          
“ You should have divided more.” A voice echoed in the room followed by bangs and bams. “Jason.” You said as you took your staff to start fighting. “ I didn’t need your help.”  
“ You’re welcome, kiddo”

You were fighting like one. He completed you as much as you completed him. He shoots you cover him, you throw a birdarang he covers you. In no time, you put them all down. All except one. “Careful” He yelled                          
“ You should have remained the Lone Outlaw, Jason.” Stephanie said pointing a gun at you as you were down on your knees. “It would have cost you much less trouble”  
“ You don’t want to do this, Steph. This isn’t you.” He tried to convince as he was also aiming at her with his old good Berretta.       
“ You’re right. But the world is changing and we all need to change with it.” You heard the cocking of the gun behind your head and closed your eyes. You were not scared but you knew you needed to do something quick if you wanted not to have your head blown off. Perhaps if you could reach the smoke pellets in your belt.         
“ So you would kill your own family?”       
“ I’m not killing my family. My family was Tim and Tim’s dead. I’m killing _your_ family.” She shouted in between warm tears before focusing on you again. “Sorry you didn’t have the proper time to bond with her, Jay.” You felt the cold tip of the gun on the back of your head. “Point-blank range. Afraid to miss?”         
“ Shut up!” She yelled as she made you fall flat on your stomach, which was exactly what you wanted her to do.        
“ Don’t make me shoot you, Steph!” Jason screamed, as he tightened his grip on his gun.  
“ Do it. If you believe you’re fast enough to stop me. I got nothing to lose. But you…”       

The light went out. It surprised the three of you. Each one of you had their own reactions. You quickly moved using the sudden darkness as an escape plan and drop a smoke pellet at the same time just in case. Jason activated the infrared vision of his helmet but the smoke you had just diffused avoided him to see a thing. He gasped and screamed your name when he heard a distinct gunshot.

“Fuck no! [Y/N]!!” He yelled again looking for your silhouette in the smoke, his hands still on the trigger.          
When the thick smoke finally lifted, he saw you on the ground, still. “[Y/N]” He whispered, as he immediately dropped his gun on the ground. He ran to you, to hold you tight against him. “It’s okay, kiddo. It’s okay. You’re okay.”  
“ I killed her.” You murmured hoarsely, staring at the gun in your hand that you then dropped on the ground in disgust. “ I killed her?” You started crying. You couldn’t believe what you just did. You had never killed anyone. That wasn’t you. “Oh my god what have I done?” Your tears were rolling along your cheeks as your eyes couldn’t look away from Stephanie’s corpse, from the pool of blood in which she was now bathing in.  
“ It’s not your fault. It was an accident.” Jason caressed your head to reassure you.

A sudden coughing suddenly snapped you away from the horror of the scene. “Dick.” You immediately run towards a small room, not so far away.

You slammed the door open, panicked and scared. He was on the ground, shivering. “No … No please no.” He was wounded. Badly wounded. All battered, bruised and covered in blood.

Jason was right behind you but he didn’t kneel so quickly to check on Dick. Not that he didn’t care. But because it took time for him to process. He knew that kind of wound. And he was aware of Dick’s current health.

Those injuries… They were fatale.

“ Dick” You whispered again as you tried to make him sit down.         
“[Y/N]. You’re alive?” You nodded. “They all betrayed us... You gotta run.”  
“ I’m not leaving you.”          
“ You have to.”           
“ No! Never. You’re family. And we don’t let family down”        
“ The bomb.” He managed to point at the surveillance screens. Jason’s eyes widened and he immediately checked the videos. The bomb was set, not so far away from here.“ We gotta go! Now!”       
“ I won’t leave him!”             
“[Y/N]!!”  
“No!!!” The floor began to quake terribly and the screens on the table started to crackle. “[Y/N]!” Jason yelled again, this time more firmly. But you weren’t listening. And so, he imagined a little boy, in an abandoned filthy bunker in Qurac, alone with his mother, accepting his deadly fate.              
No, you won’t have the life he had. You won’t have the same end.      
He used the handle of his gun to knock you out, hoping you would forgive him. He took you in his arms.            
“ Thank you.” Dick whispered. “She’s your daughter.” Jason smiled lightly.  
“ No she’s yours.” What? He stared at you in her arms. But there was no time to think. “Now save her.” He nodded.    
“ Good bye brother. “


	4. The Last Of The Rebellion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait but here is the new chapter. Thank you for your patience :-)

He hadn’t come back here in years. Even before Bruce’s death and the war against the Kanes had spread in every street in Gotham, the Batcave as well as the Manor had been abandoned, too compromised to remain hideouts.              
But he would have never imagined it like this: in ruin, ready to crumble. At least there was still power supply and the equipment, though rather dusty, a bit broken and rusty, was still in a tolerable condition.

It was weird, though. Being here, alone. Heart-breaking even. Seeing all those memories, those souvenirs in decay, his past reduced to shreds. Jason sighed deeply as he pressed his palm on the cracked glass case containing all their costumes: Bruce’s, Damian’s, Tim’s, Barbara’s … Dick’s … even his old Robin costume. It hurt to realise most of those amazing people were gone now.  

The old outlaw jumped a bit when he sensed his gauntlet vibrate. He knew what it meant and ran immediately towards the med-bay.

You were awake, grunting and struggling furiously to remove the electrodes on your body. “Calm down, kiddo. Calm down.” He said as he tried to keep you in bed. “What have you done?” You yelled as you pushed him with all the strength you had. Jason lowered his eyes. “I had to, [Y/N]”  
“You had to what? Abandon Dick out there? Let him die?” Huge tears were running down your cheeks. “How could you do that?”  
“I did what I had to do to save you. Dick was already dying. If it had been me instead of him, he would have done the same thing cause it was the right thing to do, the only thing to do”           
“Oh cause suddenly you are the arbiter of right and wrong? You, the outlaw?”       
“ I’ve done plenty wrong in my life, [Y/N] but never when other lives were in danger. And yours was in danger. I know you loved him deeply and you can hate me for what I did but Dick … Dick would tell you the thing I’m telling you right now. As hard as it was for me to do this, we had to leave him.” You remained silent. You knew he was right but the pain, the grief, was still too much to handle right now.    
“And now I need you. We have to find Damian and Cassandra and end this once and for all.” You nodded and wiped the tears off your face. You’ll mourn tomorrow. “What’s the plan?”  
“ You’re not going to like it.”

* * *

 

“Traitor” Damian spat as he was hanging upside-down from the ceiling, his hands and feet bound together. Luke scoffed, amused, as he was tapping Damian’s sheathed sword against the palm of his gloved hand. “It kills you, doesn’t it?” Damian sneered but he would not answer to his provocations. “The son of the Batman, defeated, deceived by his own family. The small brat who couldn’t trust anyone would have seen all this coming. Time has softened you, Damian… unless it is your love for [Y/N] … or her young pussy.” Damian clenched his jaw. “Yeah. Steph told me how you took the girl’s virginity on the back seat of the batmobile. Tell me. Was the sex good?”              
He was seething but he was not stupid. He knew Luke was doing this for the very sole purpose of stirring up his rage. “I’m sure it was. She’s a fiery little one. A bit like your mother. That’s probably why you like her so much. Though, it’s a bit oedipal, don’t you think? You know what? I’ll ask her what she thinks about that when we’ll find her and her daddy. We’ll find them all.”       
That’s it. He couldn’t bear listening to his crap anymore. He pulled on his chains as hard as he could, using his entire body weight to unseal them from the ceiling, in vain. “You are more than welcome to try but those chains are very resistant. You won’t break free.” Luke chortled as he approached Damian. “After all, we used them on Tim and Cassandra and well … Let’s say Cassandra is with Tim now.” What? No she couldn’t. Not her too. Damian wanted to cry but he couldn’t. It would make Luke too happy.

The man once known as Batwing pushed the vigilante’s body a little as if he was a mere cattle. He had that ridiculous satisfied smile on his face. But his desire of distraction and amusement was his mistake as Damian suddenly used his swinging body to head-butt him hard. He growled and backed up.          
Damian chuckled when he noticed the blood streaming through his fingers. “ You didn’t see this coming, huh?” Luke cursed and beat him with his own sword, hard, right in the stomach. Damian gritted his teeth but barely flinched. He could take on the pain. After all it was nothing in comparison to what he had been through as a child in Nanda Parbat. So Luke beat him again and again.

* * *

 

“ How did you convince them?” You asked the Red Hood as you were both waiting on top a building in Crime Alley.   
“ I had good arguments.” Jason bragged but he was a bit too elusive to your taste. “Is it so hard to believe?”    
“ Yeah” You admitted. It made him laugh a little as he was filling his guns with bullets. “Let’s say, a friend of mine helped.”  
“ You? You’ve got a friend?” You raised an eyebrow. “Could you stop doing that?”             
“ Doing what?”          
“ Doubting me.” He smirked. He wasn’t annoyed, not at all. On the contrary he liked your attitude. It reminded him of [Your Mother’s Name].     
He winced. No wonder you reminded him of her. You were their daughter after all, the one he thought he had lost years ago, along with his beloved wife. That was a lot to process and so many questions were bouncing in his head: Why did Dick never tell him? Why hiding you from him? And how did you survive? What happened the day you were born? So many questions but no answer. And with Dick gone he wasn’t sure he would get them one day.            
Jason looked at you. Gosh, how much he wanted to talk to you about it. But that wasn’t the right time. “They should be here soon. Let me do the talk and stick to the plan.”  
You sighed “Okay. But just so you know, in case your plan is a huge failure, I have a plan B and C and D and well, you know the alphabet I guess”             
“ Of course you do”

* * *

 

Luke hadn’t stop. And the pain was now harder to handle but Damian would not give up. “Talk, for fuck’s sake!!”       
“Enough!” Jacob Kane growled as he entered the room. He had blood on his old hands. Probably Cass’s but Damian didn’t want to think about it now. He had to break free first and to do so he needed his mind to be perfectly clear, like his father taught him. “Leave us, Mister Fox. We need him to tell us where his friends are hidden.”       
“ Tt. I can’t believe you still think I’m going to do that.” Damian winced as he felt his jaw crack as he talked.     
“ You will, soon or later.”      
“ I’d rather die.”        
“ Cassandra Cain said the same thing earlier.” Focus Damian. Focus. “But this time I have something that might change your mind” Damian frowned. “Send her in.” Jacob growled towards the door.

Damian’s eyes widened in fear when he saw Kate entering the room with you. “No” He growled as he tried to break free of his chains one more time.    
“ Damian.” You ran out towards him or at least you tried. “What a girl in love wouldn’t do for the man she loves” Jacob said as he caressed your hair.     
“ You let her leave or I swear I’ll cut your head off” He spat between his teeth, his eyes green eyes darkened by rage.          
“ There it is! That assassin fever. I knew you still had it in you.” Damian struggled again, pulling the chains as hard as he could even if his body hurt. He was like a chained dog right now, crazy and enraged.            
“Now, tell us where are Barbara Gordon and the Birds of Prey. Or she dies.” Kate placed a knife to your throat under the order of her father. “Don’t, Damian.” You begged but you quickly stopped talking when you sensed the sharp thin blade cutting you.  
“ Come on. Is Barbara’s life worth the life of the girl you love?” Damian closed his eyes. He didn’t want to lose you. He couldn’t lose you. Without you, his life was meaningless. But it wasn’t just your life that was at stake, or his, or Barbara’s. Gotham was at stake. And he couldn’t be selfish. He was the Batman.        
He dared open his eyes to stare at you, seeking your forgiveness. But there was nothing to forgive. You nodded and whispered inaudibly “I love you.” And he did the same.  
“ Fine. You don’t want to talk.” Jacob sighed. “Kill her, Kate.” But Kate didn’t move.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what do you think of this chapter?  
> Who do you think Jason called? And what is his plan?  
> Tell me in the comment section.
> 
> PS: Next chapter will be the last one.


	5. How It Was Supposed To End

“Kill her Kate” Jacob shouted again. But Kate did nothing. She just flinched a little with a almost inaudible small gasp. “Kate!” Her eyes rolled in their sockets and her hand slowly released the knife. [Y/N] caught it before it touched the ground. And suddenly, Kate fainted. Her head brutally hit the floor. Her father’s eyes widened as he noticed a tiny dart in her stomach. Tranquiliser. “Surprise” You said with a smile before the door slammed open. “…Motherfucker” Jason added with a chuckle. You rolled your eyes at him, a bit exasperated. “Oh, come on. This is mythic! Don’t tell me you know nothing about 2010’s pop culture.”  
“ How did you …?” The old man mumbled.          
“As if I couldn’t handle Luke Fox and a bunch of AI robots.” Jason took his good old guns in his hands. “Those babies still do the job, you know.”              
“I won’t surrender.” Jacob said through his clenched jaw as he glared at you and Jason. Of course he would not. He wasn’t that type of man. And Jason had taken this in consideration when he had established his plan.      
Jacob stepped back and took a small remote off his pocket. His thumb was already on the red button. “I won’t let you win.”          

A low rumble echoed in the room and, a couple of seconds later, AI robots entered loudly, kicking out the door open, breaking the windows and the air vents. They were at least fifty.       
“ Is that all you brought?” Jason mocked.             
“ Todd, don’t antagonise him please.” Damian asked, annoyed, still hanging upside down.  
“ Shush, demon spawn. I’m handling this.”          
“ If you were really handling this I wouldn’t be hanging upside anymore.”              
“ [Y/N], please, tell you boyfriend to shut up.” You opened your mouth to retort something but you didn’t know what to say “Oh so you’re really a couple. Wow. Who would have guessed?”         
“ Todd!” Damian growled, pulling on the chains.            
“We should have two conversations later, demon spawn. You know, between men. The first one just to check if Bruce explained everything about using protection. The second one to lecture you. You understand what I mean, right?”      
“ Red Hood! What the hell are you doing?” You shouted, finding all this ridiculous. He gestured you to stay quiet and started counting on his fingers. “Gaining time! 3, 2, 1. And … the party is here.”

You spotted a grey cloud outside the building coming quickly in your direction. You squinted to see more clearly what it was. And when you saw it, your eyes widened but not as much as Jacob’s. He barely got the time to realise what was happening that a swarm of shurikens pierced the air, all perfectly aimed. Each one of them stabbed the AI robots but they weren’t enough to dismantle them, even though, hopefully, they might slow them down a little.    
“ No.” Jacob whispered.        
“ Tell me you didn’t, Todd!” Damian shouted when he understood what Jason had done.  
“ I totally did.” And suddenly the room was full of lethal ninja assassins. “ Jacob, I believe you know the League of Assassins.”         
“Kill them all!!!!” Jacob ordered his robots.

That was time to fight, then. One of the assassins threw your staff at you and you took up a combat position while another ran towards Damian to release him and give him a katana.  
 Jason had already started shooting. “This is the stupidest plan ever!” Damian growled as he placed himself behind the Red Hood to cover him.             
“ I never said I was the smartest Robin. And you’re welcome.”            
“ How did you convince them, anyway?”  
“ Roy owned me one. He called Lian. She’s here somewhere by the way.” Damian frowned, uncertain it was a good thing. “Wait, so Harper did the talk?” Jason nodded. “This is worse than I thought”  
“ Stop complaining.” Jason sighed.  
“And stop talking!!” You screamed as you used your staff as a pole to kick a robot that was falling from the ceiling right above Jason’s and Damian’s heads. “It’s gonna get you killed.”         
“ Nothing th…”          
“ No death joke!!” You shouted as you ran away to help some assassins. Damian smirked as he glanced at Jason.

The fight didn’t last that long but the casualties were numerous. As calm was back in the room, the heroes couldn’t help but notice the bodies bleeding on the floor among the robots’ metallic pieces. You looked down, saddened by all the losses, not only these ones but all of them, all the persons you had lost since the beginning. Dick, Bruce, Tim, Cassandra, Stephanie… This war had cost you too much.              
The cocking of a gun made you suddenly look up. Jacob was aiming at you.             
“ That’s enough, Kane.” Damian said as he extended his hands towards him. “You lost. It’s over.”  
“He’s right. Don’t make me kill you, old man.” Jason added, his hand on his trigger, ready to shoot. “Just deprogram the remaining robots and surrender.”    
“Never” He was calm. No emotion on his face. “Think of Kate.” You said with pleading eyes as you pointed at the red head knocked out on the floor. “You don’t want your daughter to be an orphan. She already lost a mother and a sister. Don’t do this to her.”             
“You won’t have me like this, little girl.” He steadied his position and his hand tightened around the gun. “ But I will have you.” He glowered at Jason. “I maybe do not care about my daughter but I bet you care enough about yours to lower your gun.” You froze. Mouth agape, eyes widened. What did he say? What the …? How? Did he just…? “What?” You were so lost. You didn’t know what to think. You weren’t even sure you had heard right. Or were you?  No, it couldn’t be. Someone would have told you. He would have told you. Right? You quickly looked at Jason. His jaw was clenched and he looked deeply sorry. So it was true.        
“ Oh. You didn’t know?”  Jacob scoffed. “Funny, cause everybody knew.”      
“ I wanted to tell you sooner. I’m so sorry.” You frowned. You felt betrayed. “Why didn’t you?”   
“ I just learned it. Dick told me before he died and that wasn’t …”      
“Shut up!!” You screamed and searched for Damian’s eyes. “ Did you know as well?”        
“ We wanted to protect you, beloved.”      
“ Don’t ‘beloved’ me, Damian!” You shouted, furious. You breathed in deeply and let a tear roll down your cheek. “ I didn’t need protection. I needed the truth.”    
“ What a family drama!” Jacob laughed.   
“ [Y/N], don’t you see?” Jason called out. “He’s doing this on purpose. He has got something in mind. Don’t let him …”           
“Yes he has.”

That voice. You turned your head just like everybody else. But the truth is that you all should have had another reflex. BANG. You should have seen this coming. You should have avoided it or push the old Jacob Kane away from the flying bullet. It pierced the air, pierced his chest, this flying bullet shot by his very own daughter. You should have had another reflex. “No!” You shouted. Too late. His body was already on the ground. Still. Dead.

You stared at Kate in shock. No, she hadn’t shot to save your life. She had shot to save her vision and her father’s vision. And she was shooting again, right now, to preserve it. Gun on the temple. “Kate!!” BANG. She fell on the ground, a hole in her head, blood on the ground, blood on the wall. “No.” you whispered. “No!” You repeated this time louder as you ran towards her.         
“It’s over, kid” Jason said.    
“ You don’t understand they were the only one who could deprogram the AI robots. Who knows how many are left and …” Damian put a hand on your shoulder to hold you against him. “It’s alright. We’ll handle it …”     
“Handle it? You mean I will handle it.” Jason chuckled, a huge smile on his face when he recognizes the voice echoing in the room through the speakers. “Batgirl. So glad to hear you.” Your eyes lightened. “ I know you are, Jason.”      
“ Did you succeed?” He asked. “Of course I did. You should find a lot of AI robots spare parts in the Tower basement.”         
“Thanks, Babs.”         
“Well you did a good part of the work, Jason. See you later” You sighed against Damian’s chest, relieved, as he kissed you in your hair. “We did it. It’s finally over”         
“ Yeah. You’re welcome.” Jason smirked as he took off his helmet.    

You let go of Damian to approach Jason. You didn’t know what to say or do. You stood still for a moment, staring, before you extended your hand. “Thank you.” He looked at your hand with a frown and without forewarning, caught you by the shoulder to attract you against him. He held you tight, so tight you almost couldn’t breathe. But you did not care. You started crying. “I’m so sorry, kiddo, for everything that happened.” He whispered and you felt water dropping on your head. He was crying too. You tightened your embrace and shook your head. You didn’t need his apologies. You needed that hug more than anything. 

“It’s time.” An assassin said as it approached you three. You looked at her as she took off her hood and the veil covering her mouth and nose. Lian Harper. “Time for what?” You asked.  
“ Payment” She replied calmly.      
“ Just a second, Lian. Let me explain them.”         
“ Explain us what?” You said frightened as you let go of him. You father cupped your face between his hands. “I need to go.” You frowned, tears back in your eyes. “What? No”  
“[Y/N], listen. I made a pact”          
“ No! I won’t let you go!”      
“ What pact?” Damian asked, with severity in his green eyes. Jason grumbled. “The only way to have the League’s help was to surrender to your grandfather. Apparently, he’s still pissed at me for what happened in the past.”      
“ You sold your head?” He nodded. “What? Are you crazy?” You shouted.      
“ It was the only way. A reasonable sacrifice.”     
“ Fuck no! I’m done with sacrifices.” You were so angry. He couldn’t leave. You had already a father. You couldn’t lose another. No. “He’s not going with you.” You said to Lian. “He doesn’t have much of a choice. He made a deal with the Demon’s Head.”         
“ NO!! NO I won’t let you go. I won’t …”     
“ Damian.” Jason looked at the young man. He understood what he wanted and he gently came closer to you. “I spent my life regretting I wasn’t able to save you and your mother, an entire life grieving and crying, repeating to myself that it should have been me instead of you. But here you are. A beautiful young lady. The daughter I always wanted.” You let another tear roll down your cheek. No. Please God. No. “I wasn’t a father to you. But let me be a father today. Let me do what a parent should do. Let me sacrifice myself for you. Let me find your mother again.” No, he couldn’t say goodbye. Not now. Not after what happened. Not because of this stupid war. You wouldn’t allow him to do so. “All I want is for you to live and to live a happy peaceful life … though it seems you chose the wrong guy if you wanted a quiet life in a sweet neighbourhood.” He chuckled with a sad smile as he caressed your face to wipe your tears. “I may be leaving you but I’m leaving knowing I’ve done right by you.” He pulled you against his chest and kissed the top of your head. “I love you so much, [Y/N]”             
You sobbed loudly, your arms wrapped around him, refusing to let go. “Please don’t leave me, dad.” Dad? This last word was like a knife in the heart of a dying man. Painful but welcomed. He had always wanted to hear it, that lovely word he had thought he would never hear when he thought he had lost you and your mother. But it hurt so much because he knew it was the only time he would hear it.     
Jason silently cried in your hair, enjoying this last embrace, and then glanced towards Damian. He approached you slowly to take you in his arms. You tried to resist. You cried. You screamed as he tore you away from him. No, no that kind of pain again. “Dad!!!” You tried to run after him. But Damian was holding you too tight. So you watched him leave, hopeless. You watched as he was following the league with a sad smile. “It’s gonna be okay, sweetheart. I promise... I love you.”

 

You cried for days, for nights, on your bed, eyes wide opened in a perpetual darkness, away from the world, away from everything, even from Damian. Alone. Lonely.         
But it turned out Jason was right. You got better.           
As Gotham, you learned to rebuild yourself, to rise from the ashes. You came to understand that death was in the past and that now was the time for you to love again, to live again. And you had to. You had to live to make sure all the sacrifices hadn’t been for nothing, to make sure they would never be forgotten. You had to live to create a better future not only for you but also for the new generations, generations that meant more than anything else in this world to you.      
“Careful, little bird! Daddy’s gonna catch you. Daddy’s gonna catch you.” Damian repeated as he was chasing this precious little piece of you. This little boy, knee-high to a grasshopper, with dark hair and huge light-blue eyes, clumsily running as fast as he could in the green garden of Wayne Manor, laughing, happy, innocent. “Gotcha.” Damian said as he caught him in his arms to kiss his belly loudly, making him giggle.         
“Aaaah. I’m attacked. What is it?” Damian pretended to be suddenly wounded as he grabbed his assailant by a home-sewed red cape. “Who are you to attack the Batman?”  
“I’m the Red Hood. Now release my brother!” Damian screamed as your second boy jumped on his back. “ No. He’s too strong.”      
You smiled as you watched your husband fell on the ground on purpose and your two babies relentlessly but cautiously hitting him with tiny sticks. “A little help, please?”    
“ Sorry but I’m team Nightwing and Red Hood.”             
Yes, that’s why you had to live. For those moments to happen.            
For your family. For your husband. For your sons. Your little Jason and your baby Richard.            
 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked this story as much as I loved writing it
> 
> Please tell me what is your opinion on this ending or on the fan fiction in general in the comment section below
> 
> Don't forget to leave a kiddo as well :-)
> 
> Love 
> 
> Cee


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